Apple leaves Coke flat in global top brand survey

Apple was named the world's most valuable brand on Monday, taking the fizz out of Coca-Cola's 13-year run at the top of a closely followed annual survey.

The soft drink giant slipped to third place, behind Apple and Google, in this year's Interbrand survey of the most valuable brands, based on a number of factors including the company's financial performance.

"Every so often, a company changes our lives, not just with its products, but also with its ethos. This is why, following Coca-Cola's 13-year run at the top of Best Global Brands, Interbrand has a new number 1 — Apple," said the 2013 report.

Interbrand — a subsidiary of Omnicom Group and one of the world's top branding consultancies — noted Apple's "legions of adoring fans", its high aesthetic standards and the strong team assembled by CEO Tim Cook.

"Apple reached a financial pinnacle in 2012 when it became the most valuable company of all time. The peak value was not sustained, however, but the brand's financial performance in 2012 was even stronger than 2011 and, on a product and popularity basis, Apple continues to whet appetites for more," said the consultancy.

Coca-Cola is now one of only two food and drinks retailers in the top 10 list, along with McDonald's at number seven. The list is in fact dominated by tech companies, with IBM, Microsoft, GE, Samsung and Intel all featuring in the top 10.

Despite its fall off the top spot — which it has held since the survey started in 2000 — Interbrand said Coca-Cola remained the world's most recognizable brand. Indeed, Coca-Cola has 73.3 million likes on its Facebook page, while Apple store has a mere 1.4 million. Coca-Cola is also followed by 1.9 million people on Twitter, where Apple has no official presence. Plus, Coca-Cola even made it onto the London catwalk this season, featuring in designer Ashish's Spring/Summer collection.